my first snowfall in my Forester

[rhebner]

Last spring I bought a '99 Forester and was looking forward to see how
it would handle the snow. Well, yesterday we got it spades, about 25
cm of the white stuff! The car handle it like a champ, and I haven't
even put on the snow tires yet. I'm going to start calling my car
'pushmepullyou' in honour of the AWD.

On the bad side is the clutch. It was replaced about a month before I
bought the car and it is already burnt out. I use the car for work so
there is about 2 hours of shifting per day, but to only get 8 months
out of a clutch is not acceptable.

 

[Todd H.]

Last spring I bought a '99 Forester and was looking forward to see how
it would handle the snow. Well, yesterday we got it spades, about 25
cm of the white stuff! The car handle it like a champ, and I haven't
even put on the snow tires yet. I'm going to start calling my car
'pushmepullyou' in honour of the AWD.

Aint' it fun? Security in the snow makes the maintenance costs and
the relatively low fuel economy worth it whent he goin gets tough.

On the bad side is the clutch. It was replaced about a month before I
bought the car

Are you 100% confident it was done?

and it is already burnt out. I use the car for work so
there is about 2 hours of shifting per day, but to only get 8 months
out of a clutch is not acceptable.

That's weird. Either the person who replaced it did something Very
Wrong, you are Very Bad at driving a standard (which I doubt), or the
seller lied about the work being performed.

 

[Frank]

Last spring I bought a '99 Forester and was looking forward to see how
it would handle the snow. Well, yesterday we got it spades, about 25
cm of the white stuff! The car handle it like a champ, and I haven't
even put on the snow tires yet. I'm going to start calling my car
'pushmepullyou' in honour of the AWD.

On the bad side is the clutch. It was replaced about a month before I
bought the car and it is already burnt out. I use the car for work so
there is about 2 hours of shifting per day, but to only get 8 months
out of a clutch is not acceptable.

If snow is deep enough, and nearly ten inches is, you can lift all four
wheels off the ground and not move. I did with my '98 Forester. Good
thing I had a shovel
Frank

 

[rhebner]

Aint' it fun? Security in the snow makes the maintenance costs and
the relatively low fuel economy worth it whent he goin gets tough.

Are you 100% confident it was done?

I've got the bill right here from the local dealer
REMAN CLUTCH $240
BRG-CLUTCH R $71.28
BEARING $7.91


I'll admit it took a few days to get used to the clutch (after driving
toyotas for 20 years), but thats no reason for it to start slipping so
early.

I've got an app't on Friday with the dealer and I'll show them the
invoice and have a nice long talk with them.

 

[JohnO]

Last spring I bought a '99 Forester and was looking forward to see how
it would handle the snow. Well, yesterday we got it spades, about 25
cm of the white stuff! The car handle it like a champ, and I haven't
even put on the snow tires yet. I'm going to start calling my car
'pushmepullyou' in honour of the AWD.

You've seen those ads on TV where the driver blasts through snow so deep it
sprays off the front bumper? I did that a couple years ago on a road that
hadn't been plowed. It was cool.

But Frank is right...don't get over-confident. Always carry a shovel, just
in case.

-John O

 

[hippo]

rhebner <rheb...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:

Aint' it fun? Security in the snow makes the maintenance costs and
the relatively low fuel economy worth it whent he goin gets tough.

I

Are you 100% confident it was done?

I've got the bill right here from the local dealer
REMAN CLUTCH $240
BRG-CLUTCH R $71.28
BEARING $7.91

I'll admit it took a few days to get used to the clutch (after driving
toyotas for 20 years), but thats no reason for it to start slipping so
early.

I've got an app't on Friday with the dealer and I'll show them the
invoice and have a nice long talk with them.

Just a thought... cable clutch? Check the pedal height is correct and the
freeplay is adjusted correctly - and if you've got floormats in, do it
with the mats in place. Don't get much snow in this part of Oz. I do miss
it sometimes. Cheers

 

[ziggy99]

Hi all,

I'm a new member to the group. Have subbed since I've put the $$ down
on a new Forester and will pick it up next month.

I'm DownUnder, a keen XC skier and have thought for years the Suby
would be ideal for getting up to the snow.

So it's good to hear how well she might handle in the white stuff.

Any tips for cheap snow chains? (Required by law on our alpine
roads). I've got good diamond pattern jobs for my current drive but
need to look for replacements for the Forester to keep the law happy
and for those really bad days up there.

Cheers, Ern
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Zeppo]

You've seen those ads on TV where the driver blasts through snow so deep
it sprays off the front bumper? I did that a couple years ago on a road
that hadn't been plowed. It was cool.

But Frank is right...don't get over-confident. Always carry a shovel, just
in case.

-John O

Heh, heh. I remember trying that in my '86 Civic wagon AWD right after I got
it. Went to a shopping center that had long stretch of painted parking
spaces. Got up some speed in the 12" newfallen snow and suddenly found
myself airborne. Crushed the front bumper, bent 2 rims, broke an axle and
had the driver's airbag go off, almost singing my eyebrows off.

The shopping center had installed parking bumpers the day before.
Jon

 

[Richard]

I left my car at the Long Term Lot at Kennedy Airport and returned after a
big snow storm. The lot had been plowed and my car was under about ten feet
of snow. It was completely covered except the antenna. I dug it out and
blasted out of the snow pile with no ill effects. It would have made a good
commercial.

 

[Sheldon]

If snow is deep enough, and nearly ten inches is, you can lift all four
wheels off the ground and not move. I did with my '98 Forester. Good
thing I had a shovel
Frank

Around here they plow both sides and pile it up in the middle. I've seen
people try to plow through and get hung up right in the middle teetering
like a seesaw. BTW, most AWD and 4WD cars go great in the snow. It's
stopping that's the problem.

 

[KLS]

Around here they plow both sides and pile it up in the middle. I've seen
people try to plow through and get hung up right in the middle teetering
like a seesaw.

Boy, that's an idiotic way to plow streets: where pray tell is this
being practiced? I've never seen such stupidity, nor do I care to, so
your location would keep me in blissful ignorance, if you wouldn't
mind.

 

[John Varela]

Boy, that's an idiotic way to plow streets: where pray tell is this
being practiced? I've never seen such stupidity, nor do I care to, so
your location would keep me in blissful ignorance, if you wouldn't
mind.

If the street's wide enough, piling the snow in the middle makes sense to me.
Or have you never had a car or a driveway entrance piled high with snow from
the plow?

 

[houndman]

Heh, heh. I remember trying that in my '86 Civic wagon AWD right after I got
it. Went to a shopping center that had long stretch of painted parking
spaces. Got up some speed in the 12" newfallen snow and suddenly found
myself airborne. Crushed the front bumper, bent 2 rims, broke an axle and
had the driver's airbag go off, almost singing my eyebrows off.

The shopping center had installed parking bumpers the day before.
Jon

That had to hurt.((

VF

 

[Zeppo]

That had to hurt.((

VF

Actually the physical pain wasn't as bad as how stupid I felt when I was
interviewed by the cops (who someone who had witnessed the event). Their
smirks and chuckles cut right to the heart. Better they had clubbed me.

Jon

 

[KLS]

If the street's wide enough, piling the snow in the middle makes sense to me.
Or have you never had a car or a driveway entrance piled high with snow from
the plow?

I always have those nice berms left by the plow trucks at the end of
my driveway every winter, many times in fact (we average 90+ inches of
snow a year). Where I live, I don't see this snow in the middle of
the road; it truly would be idiotic to follow this practice given how
long our snow stays on the ground. I still want to know where the OP
lives that this practice is followed.

 

[Frank]

Around here they plow both sides and pile it up in the middle. I've seen
people try to plow through and get hung up right in the middle teetering
like a seesaw. BTW, most AWD and 4WD cars go great in the snow. It's
stopping that's the problem.

When development is plowed, there is usually a pile of snow across
driveway. Watched my neighbor hang up his Explorer trying to drive over it.

Also while you mention it, stopping is the problem with any car. All
have 4 wheel brakes and stop equally well depending on tires. AWD/4WD
get you going but don't help you stop.

 

[John Varela]

I still want to know where the OP lives that this practice is followed.

Could be Salt Lake City, where the streets were made wide enough that a wagon
team could turn around without "resorting to profanity."

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

Around here they plow both sides and pile it up in the middle. I've seen
people try to plow through and get hung up right in the middle teetering
like a seesaw. BTW, most AWD and 4WD cars go great in the snow. It's
stopping that's the problem.

Aye that! If you have good snow tires it's easier, but once you lose
control, you lose control. And, ice is ice...

 

[Ray]

Last spring I bought a '99 Forester and was looking forward to see how
it would handle the snow. Well, yesterday we got it spades, about 25
cm of the white stuff! The car handle it like a champ, and I haven't
even put on the snow tires yet. I'm going to start calling my car
'pushmepullyou' in honour of the AWD.

I hear you. We got a 97 Impreza OBS last spring and I just got to take
it out for the first time in real snow last weekend. I came back with
the biggest grin you've ever seen. That thing does doughnuts like crazy
when you're having fun but feels very stable when you're just driving
normally. It doesn't have the raw traction or ground clearance of my
Explorer but feels a bit more predictable. I think it's going to be a
real winner.

 

[Sheldon]

Around here they plow both sides and pile it up in the middle. I've seen
people try to plow through and get hung up right in the middle teetering
like a seesaw. BTW, most AWD and 4WD cars go great in the snow. It's
stopping that's the problem.

The snow is piled in the middle of Main Street, mostly, and then a giant
snowblower goes down the middle of the street and blows it into dump trucks
and it's taken away. If it was all pushed to the side parking would be
impossible, and eventually the sidewalks would be unusable.